From: D
Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2019 3:18 PM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: translation?
Dear Walter,
Selgin and White basically state that in a free market, the monetary outcome would be the same as under central banking: people start with gold as money and then FRFB “develops” it all into a “mature” system in which the bankers make the gold disappear and replace it with paper money. For one, Selgin and White turn banking into an abstract activity in itself, separated from the customers, the people with hard-earned gold and silver, for which they trust a bank to safekeep it. Not to abuse their money for goals like “stability” or “preventing a deflationary spiral”, which of course turns the matter upside down. Anyway, their works are loaded with fallacies, which would never become reality in a free market as no one would ever choose their set-up. They project the long, existing history of monetary abuses into a quasi-theory of how free market banking would and should work. And they have been touting this nonsense for almost four decades now. It’s more like they want their names and works to be cited, rather than add to our knowledge and understanding of economics.
Best regards, D
Dear D:
Selgin and White are excellent libertarians, and very good Austrians, except for this one topic, money, where they are horrid. They exemplify Murray’s rule: People specialize in what they are worst in.
Here’s Murray’s excellent critique of Selgin and White:
Rothbard, Murray N. 1988. “The Myth of Free Banking in Scotland.” The Review of Austrian Economics, Vol. 2, pp. 229-245; http://mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/RAE2_1_15.pdf. Reprinted in The Logic of Action Two: Applications and Criticism from the Austrian School. Glos, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 1997, pp. 311-330.
On the other hand, the two of them sometimes do excellent work. Here is a magnificent essay by Selgin:
Selgin, George A. 1988. “Praxeology and Understanding: An Analysis of the Controversy in Austrian Economics,” Review of Austrian Economics, (2), pp. 19-58; and Praxeology and Understanding, Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1990; http://www.mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/RAE2_1_2.pdf
Best regards,
Walter
3:59 am on October 6, 2019
